


Expectations

by corvidkohai



Category: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: First Meetings, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:21:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25037668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corvidkohai/pseuds/corvidkohai
Summary: Cloud is introduced to Zack’s boyfriends, only to find out that his expectations weren’t quite right.
Relationships: Zack Fair/Angeal Hewley/Genesis Rhapsodos/Sephiroth
Comments: 10
Kudos: 93





	Expectations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [villaincoded](https://archiveofourown.org/users/villaincoded/gifts).



> a birthday gift to villaincoded!!! I hope you like it!!!

Cloud was absolutely terrified. 

This was not necessarily unusual for Cloud, but it was more intense than usual on this occasion. Tonight was the big night. Zack, his amazing, far-too-cool-for-him best friend wanted to introduce him to his boyfriends. He swore up and down that they would all get along, but Cloud wasn’t sure. After all, the only thing Cloud knew about them was that they were SOLDIERs. Three SOLDIER boyfriends. It made  _ sense _ , given that Zack was also a SOLDIER, but he seemed to be missing how  _ awesome _ it was. 

Cloud wanted to wear something other than his uniform for this. The way the uniform hung off him revealed the way he’d never been able to pack on muscle how he’d like, and nothing said “Not A SOLDIER” quite like the trooper uniform. But Shinra policy was that everyone was in uniform while in the Tower, and Zack was having them all over to his apartment. It made him wish that they were going out somewhere, so he could look nice, but then there would be the question of payment. Cloud thought he would die if Zack’s boyfriends tried to pay for him, and they would, since everyone knew SOLDIERs made more than troopers. It was better this way. 

Still, that left him with nothing but his trooper uniform that he didn’t look good in. He had to keep reminding himself that this wasn’t a  _ date  _ and he didn’t have to impress, but didn’t he though? He wanted so badly for them to approve of him as Zack’s friend. He already knew he wasn’t good enough for Zack’s attention, but he wanted them to think that he was. 

It left him standing outside Zack’s apartment for longer than he expected. The only reason he finally convinced himself to knock was that they were SOLDIERs, and with their enhanced senses, probably already knew he was there. Best not to show his nerves by lingering. 

Almost the second after he knocked, Zack yanked open the door, a wide grin on his face. Okay, yeah. He’d definitely been on the other side of the door waiting for him to knock. Damn. 

“Hey, Cloud! Glad you could make it!”

Cloud gave a smile that he hoped didn’t look as nervous as he felt. 

“Wouldn’t miss it!”

“C’mon, come inside, let me introduce you.”

It was a stupid sentence, really. Cloud knew who they all were the second he saw the back of their heads. Still, he let Zack lead him to the loveseat, where they sat side by side, looking at the other three, who watched him in blatant interest. 

“So, these are my boyfriends: Angeal, Genesis, and Sephiroth.”

“Uh, yeah Zack,” Cloud said, looking between all of them with wide eyes. “I know.”

The three laughed like he was joking around, but he was too busy being in awe to try to be funny. He couldn’t help but stare at the look of honest amusement on Sephiroth’s face. 

This was  _ Sephiroth _ . The reason he came to Midgar. The reason he had tried out for SOLDIER, no matter how poorly that’d gone. The reason behind the Silver Elite, of which he was an avid member, oh gods, did Sephiroth know that? He certainly  _ couldn’t  _ know the amount of times he’d jerked off to photos and fantasies of him, good Gaia almighty, would Ifrit do him a favor and strike him down now? 

His face was  _ clearly _ red, but apparently it was believable that he was embarrassed because they laughed when he didn’t intentionally make a joke, or that it was nerves—who knew? He was just glad no one was calling him on it. 

“So, Cloud,” Genesis started; Cloud finally tore his eyes away from Sephiroth. “We’ve heard much, but only from Zack’s perspective. Tell me, how do you remember meeting him?”

Cloud did his best to be wrapped into the conversation. He let Genesis and Angeal lead it, but answered all their questions. Still, he couldn’t stop glancing at Sephiroth. It was  _ Sephiroth!  _ The man he’d dreamed about since he was a kid! Okay, yes, apparently he was dating his best friend so he’d have to tamp down on the fantasies or deal with the guilt, but it couldn’t hurt to  _ look _ . He never thought he’d ever be sitting this close to him! His heart was still racing. 

Eventually, while he was answering one of Angeal’s questions but doing so while looking only at Sephiroth, Genesis got this sly smirk across his face that the others knew meant trouble. Cloud not only didn’t recognize it, but hadn’t noticed it at all, with his gaze otherwise occupied. 

“Cloud,” Genesis interrupted, his tone a teasing lilt, “do you like Sephiroth?”

Cloud’s eyes shot to Genesis, open very wide. Angeal and Zack groaned. 

“Gen, c’mon,” Zack said, but Genesis waved him away. 

“He’s not a child, he can answer a question,” Genesis said. 

“Uhm,” Cloud tried, wincing when his voice cracked. “I like all of you?”

“No no no, Cloud. Do you  _ like _ Sephiroth? Are you a fan?”

Oh Gaia. He was honestly surprised his face didn’t catch fire. 

“I, uh, I dunno what makes you say that,” Cloud tried, hoping and praying that Genesis would let him off the hook. 

That he had the thought at all was a sign that he didn’t know Genesis very well. 

“You’ve been staring at him all night, but he’s hardly said two words.”

“Uhm,” was Cloud’s brilliant response. 

“Cloud, is this true? Are you in the Silver Elite?” Sephiroth asked. His expression was clearly chagrined. There was a right answer to this, but it wasn’t Cloud’s, and he didn’t think he could lie to this man. 

“ _ Uhm _ ,” Cloud tried again, his voice markedly smaller. 

“Guys, lay off,” Zack interrupted. 

“Oh I think not, Zack,” Genesis said with a grin. “I  _ delight _ in ruining Sephiroth’s good image.”

Sephiroth sighed. Impossibly,  _ impossibly _ , his cheeks were stained pink. Cloud watched in awe. 

“Cloud, the public image of me is hardly accurate. I’m not the man you think you know.”

Cloud’s brow furrowed. He looked over at Zack, who shrugged, admitting this truth. 

“There’s a reason he’s not allowed to do interviews or press conferences,” Zack admitted, ruffling his hair. 

Genesis gave a dreamy sigh and said, “It looks like a night of the greatest hits of Sephiroth’s Social Gracelessness. Where do we start?”

Cloud looked back to Sephiroth, expecting him to protest having his apparent flaws aired, but he just looked resigned. 

“Cloud, if you’re going to be so close to Zack, it would be best if you had a more accurate understanding,” Sephiroth explained. 

Zack, Genesis, and Angeal all began to look excited. Apparently, they’d had to set people straight this way before. They knew, full well, that Sephiroth preferred people knowing who he actually was, the man not the idol, and that he was willing to sit through some minor humiliation to get there. He could be a good sport about it. 

The three bandied about stories with the air of fond reminiscence. The few interviews he had been allowed to give, which had been erased from public record. The Shinra Annual New Year Party, where Sephiroth never failed to put his foot in his mouth somehow. Failed attempts at inspiring speeches for the troops. The times he tried to be romantic but only succeeded in being deeply strange. The single time he’d been exposed to the pollen of a foreign plant that had the bizarre effect of essentially making him drunk, when he’d made an utter fool of himself. The stories never seemed to run dry. 

Sephiroth bore this all with a resigned expression and a faint flush to his cheeks. Occasionally, he gave them glares that lacked entirely in heat, or derisive sniffs that seemed more showy attempts to save his pride than anything heartfelt. The few times he caught Cloud’s eye, he gave him a small smile, showing that he found Cloud worth going through all of this. 

And, to Cloud, this was a  _ terrible _ experience. Because the strong, stoic hero he had thought he’d known had been an excellent fantasy, but only that: fantasy. Like a cardboard cut out, it could inspire adoration, or perhaps lust, but not much else. But the image being painted for him, of a well-meaning man who simply happened to be awkward and a little strange, just like him, was deeply endearing. And endearing was dangerous. People fell in  _ love  _ with endearing, and he didn’t want to betray Zack that way. 

But it seemed important to all of them that he grasped this point, so he listened. 

He listened, and tried so, so hard not to let himself fall. 


End file.
